Three key priorities for fleets this year are increasing productivity, reducing costs, and enhancing driver safety, and AI and connected fleet tech are the engines driving it all. According to Verizon Connect's 2026 Fleet Technology Trends Report, 66% of fleet professionals say increasing efficiency and productivity is their number one priority this year, followed by reducing operational costs at 62% and enhancing driver safety at 52%.
Contents of this video
Speaker 1:
Three key priorities for fleets this year are increasing productivity, reducing costs, and enhancing driver safety, and AI and connected fleet tech are the engines driving it all. Hey everybody, welcome back to CCJ's 1044. I'm Jason Cannon and my co-host is Matt Cole. Efficiency and cost reduction and safety are top priorities for motor carriers this year, according to Verizon Connect's 2026 Fleet Technology Trends Report. 66% of fleet professionals say increasing efficiency and productivity is their number one priority this year, followed by reducing operational costs at 62% and enhancing driver safety at 52%.
Speaker 2:
Cost reduction doesn't always lead to increases in efficiency and safety, but the opportunity is there depending on how you apply or invest those savings.
Speaker 3:
When you think about the drivers of costs in a fleet, fleet management systems are one of the few things that can address them in a multifaceted manner. Whether that's focusing on fuel efficiency, so better routing, optimized routing, limiting of idling for lots of reasons, whether that's environmental or cost driven. You're also going to be looking at things, you have fuel, you have route optimization, you've got the reduced risk in terms of insurance liability, both from the insurance to pure your premium costs, because we have a lot of insurance providers who are either requiring or offering discounts for fleets that are adopting fleet tracking. And then lastly, just your risk in terms of lawsuits or fraudulent lawsuits.
Speaker 1:
4% of GPS fleet tracking users reported improved productivity. 53% of asset tracking users improved equipment utilization, and 55% of field service management users improved operational efficiency. With nearly half of the users across major technologies reporting an ROI in less than one year.
Speaker 3:
There's multiple things in play. I mean, first of all, we're seeing more and more use cases. I think you're seeing asset tracking also becoming more adaptable. The use cases continue to rise, whether it's ... We've seen everything from tracking porta potties to heavy machinery to the folks who are interested in small tools tracking. I just think it's becoming the norm that this technology can work. I think when you even think in the consumer space, we're seeing more and more use of GPS or Bluetooth tracking in some cases. And so I just think it's becoming a standard fair. And then I think now we're seeing video each year and year creep up as well as sort of, hey, you've got to have that table stakes.
Speaker 2:
74% of video telematics users say AI improved driver safety, helping to detect behaviors like fatigue and issuing real-time it cab alerts and coaching, driving a 48% reduction in accident-related costs. Video remains one of the best use cases for AI and trucking, and it's getting better.
Speaker 3:
Video is still an extremely powerful use case. And I think what we continue to see is just improvements in the accuracy of it, the richness, the explosion of additional video use cases that come to fare. But what has actually gotten me really excited is I think we're now moving also into the expansion that the user experience of fleet management solutions. I mean, historically they've been very rich applications, but sometimes not always the easiest for someone who isn't a data analyst to use. I mean, a lot of my clients are very skilled plumbers, electricians who I count on to come and fix my home, but they're not data analysts that are meant to figure out how to go and analyze rich spreadsheets and such. And so what I get really excited about is AI is really going to revolution the user experience as we call it and make it much more conversational.
We have some even new capabilities that why are we ... I think about whether it's my parents or I'm old enough to say that I'm not always the most maybe tech savvy. Why do I have to know what to ask? Sometimes people who want to go into an LLM model don't even know what to ask. And I think the same can be true for the fleet managers. They don't know always what they're looking for. So how do we essentially tell them what we're seeing in the data? Wha should they be worried about? You should know that Jason's had 20 harsh driving events in the last month. You may want to coach them. So much more proactive type of things that you're going to see in our interfaces. So I'm really excited about how it changes sort of bringing data out to bear, bringing insights that you wouldn't know to look for to help people run their business, to help them drive down their operational costs or to make their businesses
Speaker 1:
Safer. 54% of fleet professionals sided rising costs is their top challenge. And GPS fleet tracking is delivering relief with users reporting average decreases of 19% in accident costs and 15% in maintenance costs.
Speaker 3:
Again, I think it goes back to that multifaceted approach to efficiency and cost savings as that's how I sort of interpreted it. I don't know that ... I think all of our customers, certainly, you and I feel the everyday continued pressure on our day-to-day costs. And I think people are constantly looking for visibility and control into what they can manage. You and I can't control the price of fuel, but we can certainly do our best to control how our businesses are utilizing our limited resources. And so for me, it's always about how I put myself in the best position to manage what I can control. And I think fleet management solutions are just a great tool for businesses to use. And they're realizing that we have a lot of customers who might come and say, "Hey, I really want to implement this technology for fuel savings." But as they get more familiar with it, they'll realize, "Hey, it can also help me with driving a safety program or a safety culture in my business." And so that's what gets me excited.
We have a lot of customers who come back and start with tracking and then add video as an add-on to say, "Hey, I've been convinced and it's compelling and I'm seeing the benefits." As you saw in the study, a large majority of folks are finding they're getting a return on their investment very quickly within months of purchase. And so it's that sort of value prop that I think folks very quickly view as attractive and sticky.
Speaker 2:
So just how good can this technology get?
Speaker 3:
I think one of the things that I'm really interested to see how it evolves is AI is going, and certainly we see it across multiple industries. It's redefining the technology landscape within many sectors. It's changing how we might integrate other technologies or other solutions integration with ... We do a lot of integrations, let's say, with a fuel card provider or things like that, but how those look and feel and what the user experience will look like, I think will be very, very different. We're already seeing a lot of push of things like mobile coaching direct to the phone. You'll see a huge leap in personalization, both personalization down to the driver level or the fleet level, but also at the business level, hey, very quickly we can adapt solutions that might be one way for a landscaping business and different for a food delivery business.
There's just a lot more, the platforms will do a lot more of its own self-learning as we go, what's important for your business may be different from your neighbor's business. The personalization side of it, continued learnings on the safety side, the safety elements are still pretty, I would say basic. Safety is not just a technology player, it's a huge cultural play. So I think we'll see how do you change the culture of your organization to be a safety focused one? And I think AI will really lean into that in helping drive that for individual businesses.
Speaker 1:
Technology and the idea of what it can do can be a scary thing. But Josh says failure to embrace it to some degree is leaving way too much opportunity on the table for motor carriers.
Speaker 3:
I certainly respect everyone's choices, but I think the marketplace today is so hyper-competitive and the benefits, whether it's from a cost and efficiency standpoint or a safety standpoint are so compelling around at least at a minimum, your vehicle tracking and forward-facing cameras, let alone in- cab. I can understand people have some hesitancy of in- cab cameras, and we like to work with our clients and work through them to help them understand the benefit. But it's so compelling that you can't expect to compete in today's marketplace if you're not being as fuel efficient, if your routes aren't optimized. And if you're not protecting yourself really from the fact that, look, you have drivers, including perhaps even yourself, that are driving your business's most expensive asset down a road every day, and you need to protect those assets with everything that's available in the marketplace. And these offerings for a relatively small monthly element, one accident, one speeding ticket essentially can pay for themselves.
So it's just the value prop is so compelling that I think it's irresponsible for folks not to at least to look at it. And generally, everything we build is designed to still put the fleet manager in control. There is sort of an override, but I just think there are parts of this world that you just have to accept that it's okay to ask for help and that there are tools out there to help you.
Speaker 1:
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